John Barleycorn is memorialized in English folk tradition as the personification of the barley plant, sacrificed at harvest time and then reborn as beer or ale. Our Harvest Dance Wheat Wine is a celebration of John’s Midwestern cousin, wheat. Beginning with a large portion of wheat malt, we add an equally generous helping of Hallertau and Citra hops and age the ale on both French and American oak. The result is a big, warming burst of tropical fruit flavors, highlighted by subtle wine-like notes, and rounding slowly to a long, dry, oaky finish.

Reviews by Blargimus:

Pours a surprisingly light and clear amber with tons of white head. Head takes a while to fade down. LOTS of visible carbonation.

Smell is mostly belgian yeast and fruitiness with a touch of wheat. No alcohol.

Wow, this taste! Very belgian, but with a brightness that's hard to describe. A surprising amount of citrus (maybe from the citra hops) but it's not hoppy or bitter at all. The dark fruits and incredible sweetness are in your face, but it's not completely overwhelming.

Thick and syrupy, but the carbonation perfectly balances it. A tiny but of alcohol warmth as it goes down, but 9.5% is remarkably well-hidden.

This is really good, maybe my favorite of the Smokestack Series so far.

More User Reviews:

Best by 10/10.Poured into a snifter a clear orange infused glden with a huge blooming white head that sticks like glue as it settles into a frothy mass.Aromas are a mix of citrus,caramel/vanilla,and faint leather.Big chewey feel and not overcarbonated like I was thinking it might be in the mouth.Big caramel and honey sweet notes upfront with some of the leathery component coming thru as well,the finish is sharp and leafy with a big citric jolt as well.Complex to the hilt,with a good combination of sweetish deep maltiness and herbal,citric hop.The alcohol does play a part as the beer warms,but the hops really play a big role in this wheatwine.

750ml bottle. After a big pop of the cork, it pours with a monstrous overflowing head after a normal pour. It's a hazy muddy golden with a huge white head that retains well and laces the glass.

The aroma is some yeasty funk, and wheaty rye like alcohol. As it warms (and the head recedes), I get some of the wood notes and some fruits and a tinge of sourness too.

The flavor is sweet wheaty malts, a little sugary fruit and a bit of a bitter finish that I didn't notice until it lingered on the tongue. The alcohol is well hidden. The mouthfeel is medium to full bodied. Given the carbonation level on pouring, I'm surprised that the mouthfeel is pretty smooth with low carbonation noticeable.

Overall, this is a pretty mellow beer (surprising given the alcohol), and nothing stands out like a huge impy stout. It is a little far on the sweet side for me. The pouring gets to be a bit annoying too - each pour, I get about an ounce of beer and tons of head.

The head does not lack at all, towering actually and rising above the rim. Slightly hazed pale orange amber glow when put to the light. Delicate perfumey aroma of raw honey, tropical fruit, wild flowers (lavender?) and a peppery alcohol. Smoothness is its middle name and with a body like that it runs pretty deep. Very bready with a thick malty start, dry though. A peppery flavor and fruitiness battle it out in the middle as the alcohol turns on the heat a bit. Yeast malt cake in the dry finish.

Of the maltier Wheatwines, a sipper for sure. I'd love to see what this beer tastes like in a year or more. Lovely now.

Mouthfeel: bitter—slight sweetness at the end, high carbonation, light bodied for the style

Overall: An above average to OK wheatwine. I have been blown away by some wheatwines I have tasted, but this is not one of them. I would be really curious though to try this with some age. I will say the whole time I was drinking this I was thinking--I have had better in the style--yet I want more...I want more.

This is my first ever wheatwine so I am not sure how it compares to the style, but I really enjoyed the beer.

Pours orange-brown with a huge, dark white head. The aroma is strongly wheaty, with a lot of alcohol as well. You get some citrus and grassy hops, more than expected. The flavor is wheat with the same earthy and citrus hops that were in the nose. You also get some Belgian yeast. This beer is very carbonated and has a medium mouthfeel. A sipper that changes both flavor and aroma as it warms.

a) a bright orange transparent color with a good 3 plus finger head upon pouring into my Deschutes Tulip.

s) the fruits of apricot and peach stand out, more fruity versus a citriusy scent if that makes sense, in the distance is a little malt/biscuit and even smaller hop aroma.

t) the fruits are at the front, then comes biscuit/matlness, I don't really get any hoppiness from it and the no citruis qualities present including any banana which is what I would was expecting from a wheat beer. Almost has a belgium characteristic to it.

m) very light and refreshing, geat for a warm day, no bitterness but also not a lot of flavor coming through. Maybe because technically I am past the best by date??? Don't know.

o) I have had many a hef's but this is my first wheat wine beer and I am just not picking up any of the wood notes with it. Overall though very drinkable, especially for the abv but, I would not seek this one out again.

Harvest Dance opens to a sweet, fruity nose ripe with cherry, berry, orange, apricot, pineapple, and melon fruit esters, the pineapple and melon being especially noticeable here, lending the beer an immediate sweet-tart note. Huge dollops of brown sugar, confectioner’s sugar, and caramel add further layers of sweetness, mixing with the fruit esters to form a bubble gum overtone. Pink grapefruit, lemon, and light pine from the hops add further tart sweetness, as well as a touch of bitterness to help balance things out. All of this rests atop a biscuit and wheat bread that, though faint, does help bring some earthiness. As a whole, the nose is quite potent, and very interesting in its tropical citrusy overtones, though the bubble gum note does somewhat spoil this. Still, there are enough fruit esters in here for two to three bottles of almost anything else, bringing a promise of syrupy goodness.

On the tongue, the beer opens with a quick shot of fruit that copies that noted in the nose: cherry, berry, orange, and apricot fruits mix with surprisingly strong pineapples and melons. The sweet pink grapefruit from the hops, as well as the lemons, add further sugars and tartness. Brown sugar, pepper, and light hints of apple cider vinegar add bits of contrast, as does the biscuit and wheat bread base. In subsequent sips, where some of the initial nuance of the beer is lost, the fruits can come across somewhat like a soda, but are still very nice. The aftertaste is a long lasting continuation of the main mouthful, heavily emphasizing tropical citrus notes. Mouthfeel is a very dry medium, and carbonation is medium to medium-high.

Overall, this is good beer, though I suspect that the pineapple and melon notes might drive some off. Luckily the bubble gum aromas did not translate to the tongue, which would have been disastrous. The beer may be a bit dry, but the massive fruit esters make it seem like apple cider champagne, and the result is so interesting that it’s worth a try.

This has a white wine nose with a background of light bread without the crust, light malts, a faint trace of citrusy hops and a hint of alcohol. It pours hazy gold with a 1” quickly dissipating white foam cap that has wine aromas, pours hazy gold with a 1 finger head that quickly dissipates, gold and produces rich lace. On the palate the yeast driven esters tend more towards white wine than the barley wine fruit profile. There is an underlying sweetness with a balancing hop bitterness on the finish. The alcohol is big, with the malt flavors providing balance and pulling things together. Oak flavors with a touch of vanilla lurk in the background. Medium full body with medium high carbonation. Alcohol warming on the finish but not overly hot or solventy.

This was a 2009 bottle opened in Oct. 2011. Pours a little 'weird'. Kind of a hodgepodge of color. Gold, yellow, orange, brown. Nicely carbonated, 1/2" head. Aroma was also all over the place, banana, wheat, mild alcohol warmth, toffee and caramel.

Taste was nicely packaged, a little bit of citrus (not expected) and even some older hop notes, warm alcohol, vanilla, more banana, this one is actually wonderfully nuanced and complex, with a lighter body to it that isn't really all that challenging to drink at all.

I'd check it out again, and it really makes me wonder if this is a good intro for people not ready for massive barleywines.

This is admittingly the first Wheatwine I've ever had. Poured into a wineglass orange with a huge thick head. Most of this head can be contributed to me having just bought it and it was rolling around in the car. But the head had great staying value and great lacing. The smell was of orange and grapefruit scents. Which is what the taste was like. Being my first wheatwine, I can best compare it to a Belgian IPA without the Belgian yeast, and more of a straw dry feel in the mouthfeel. Very interesting.

Appearance: Like most smokestack products, this beer has a very explosive head. Almost hard to pour explosive. However, I'm not complaining. The head this beer produces is big fluffy, rockey with giant bubbles. A very nice head that leaves some big globulus lacing. The body of this has a nice semi-cloudy amber color, much alike its barley based cousins.

Smell: Right off the bat is a bouquet of bananas. This I seem to find a lot with beers that have a large wheat base. Some nice subtle tropical fruit notes, that I assume come from the citra hops. A very pleasant and appealing sweet nose.

Taste: Again the banana like flavors from the wheat come forth. The hop presence in this is very interesting too. The hallertau adds a nice round, grounded hop profile to this wine. It has an earthy quality to it. Contrasting to the Citra hops that give it a nice bouquet of tropical fruits and citrus notes, cutting over the rest of every thing. After the hoppiness there is the nice winy roundness to the beer. Finished with a nice, sweet dryness.

Mouthfeel: Probably the ONLY weak point in this beer, and that isn't even really a weak point. The carbonation does add a slight burn to the tongue. And make the beer slightly more fluffy than it should be. A nice thickness for this style I think.

Drink: Taste alone make this wheat wine super drinkable. Though it does seem at taste to be slightly more boozy than it is. That could deter some for drinkability. But, this beer is damn fine!